Lead changes — again — in 46th District race

Amedore finishes with slight lead over Tkaczyk as vote count continues

By Jimmy Vielkind

Published 10:55 pm, Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Republican candidate for the New York Senate 46th district George Amedore, center, is applauded by family members after declaring victory at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia, NY Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Republican candidate for the New York Senate 46th district George Amedore, center, is applauded by family members after declaring victory at the Glen Sanders Mansion in Scotia, NY Tuesday Nov. 6, 2012. (Michael ... more

ALBANY — Assemblyman George Amedore, R-Rotterdam, finished Tuesday more than 100 votes ahead of his Democratic opponent, Cecilia Tkaczyk, in the 46th State Senate District — the third time since Friday the lead has shifted in the closely watched contest.

Tkaczyk started the day roughly 30 votes ahead of Amedore after absentee ballots were opened in Albany County on Monday. But Amedore surged in Greene County, a Republican stronghold he won easily on election night. Counting there was half-completed when representatives of the campaigns suspended their efforts around 7 p.m.

About 36,000 votes were cast in the five-county district on Election Day, but officials did not begin opening more than 9,000 absentee and affidavit ballots until this week. They are being supervised by Acting Montgomery County Supreme Court Justice Guy Tomlinson, who on Tuesday set an expedited schedule for the rest of the counting to proceed.

It will continue in Greene County and begin in Schenectady County on Wednesday and will continue Friday. Counting in Ulster and Montgomery counties will begin Friday and continue Saturday, if necessary, Tomlinson said.

Amedore is expected to gain votes in Schenectady and Montgomery counties, which he currently represents in the Assembly, but Tkaczyk should clean up in Ulster County. She won there on election night by nearly 8,200 votes.

Both sides said they remain confident their candidate will eventually be named the winner, but are setting aside some ballots they believe were submitted inappropriately. These ballots become moot if one holds a numerically larger margin of victory; if not, Tomlinson would rule whether each individual ballot should be opened, a process that could take weeks.

The Senate is set to reconvene in January, and elect a new partisan majority leader. If Amedore is victorious, he would complete the 32-vote majority bloc Republicans need to re-install Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Long Island. If Tkaczyk prevails, Democrats would have to reunite with the four-member Independent Democratic Conference to pick a leader from their party.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, on Tuesday refused to offer a substantive opinion about which party will lead the chamber. "Call me old-fashioned, I still think we should count the votes," he said.